<p>Oh, and I’m in FOCUS too! Modeling in the Economic and Social Sciences.</p>
<p>This may seem like an obvious and even previously answered question but what does Duke look for most in a prospective student?</p>
<p>Also how is the diversity on campus? Would you say thats a big thing at Duke?
I am an American citizen but I have lived in South Africa my whole life. Would this be an asset for me?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>saramunki,</p>
<p>First of all, I apologize for the delay in response. . . I’ve been a bit busy lately with Finals and whatnot.</p>
<p>According to their admissions page, Duke enrolls multi-faceted, multi-talented students. Adcom wants to admit students whom it believes will take advantage of the opportunities here and contribute all they can contribute to the Duke environment.</p>
<p>Duke is incredibly diverse. . . I was literally blown away when I first arrived at how many different colors people were here. If you want some stats, you can check the Class of 2014 profile to see a basic breakdown of race/ethnicity.
([Duke</a> University Admissions: Class of 2013 Profile](<a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2013profile.html]Duke”>http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2013profile.html))
(It’s the right link, even though it says 2013. . . I promise!)</p>
<p>Living in South Africa can benefit your application if you choose to give that experience a bit of focus and expand upon it. I don’t know if that would automatically give your application any boost, however, but I wouldn’t expect it to.</p>
<p>~Jimmy</p>
<p>Honest question: Do people at Duke take football seriously, or kind of as a joke? i.e., would it be inappropriate to make a joke about Duke football in my Why Duke essay, or would it be better to leave it out?</p>
<p>leave it out, off color/self-deprecating/poking-fun-at-others jokes are not appropriate in almost all cases in these types of essays.</p>
<p>im also a duke freshman. im in pratt now but im switching out to do a pre law track. if you have questions about the engineering program or anything id be happy to answer : )</p>
<p>There’s not necessarily any reason to leave Pratt if you want to go to law school. Any major is fine for law school, and majoring in a technical field will allow you to pursue patent law should you wish.</p>
<p>well except for the fact that Pratt is bloody hard.</p>
<p>ksyankeejetfan:</p>
<p>Yeah, even though people do joke about football here (to an extent. . . and varies from person to person), you shouldn’t include anything in your essay that bashes the football team. If by chance Adcom finds it funny and doesn’t hold it against you, it doesn’t really help you out much anyway and so it’s not worth it. But the much more likely scenario is that you will be viewed negatively for it.</p>
<p>ouroboros - im switching for other reasons, not just cause of pre law</p>
<p>how hard is it to get selected for a duke engage project? Do most people who applpy get in or are a lot of people rejected?</p>
<p>This might sound like a strange question, but I’m sort of a neat freak, so I was wondering, how do you clean up the dorms? Are there vacuums or brooms available?</p>
<p>Generally you are on your own for cleaning your room. If you are nice to your housekeeping staff, they may lend you their vacuum cleaner every semester or so.</p>
<p>Each dorm should have a housekeeping closet somewhere. In it should be a vacuum cleaner that you can use. Finding it is another problem since not that many people seem aware of it, but it should be unlocked by your room key. For example, in Giles where I lived freshman year, the closet was on the first floor, to the right of the entrance next to the guest bathroom.</p>
<p>Jimmy-</p>
<p>I’m interested in double majoring and am wondering how manageable the workload is. I’m interested in Spanish and Economics but also a possible french minor with a markets management certificate. I realize that this is extremely ambitious, but I was hoping you could discuss how many classes can count towards majors/minors and general education requirements relating to a double major and anything else you can think of surrounding this topic. Thanks!</p>
<p>Ok, thanks StriverFX and Ouroboros313!</p>
<p>ash411:</p>
<p>Um, it depends on which Duke Engage program you apply to. There are international and domestic projects, and there are individual and group projects. I can’t say much about the competitiveness of the individual projects, but as for the group projects, you should expect pretty stiff competition. Some projects got 100+ applicants, but they all take about 8 students.</p>
<p>I applied to Durban, South Africa, and didn’t get in. 21 students got interviews (I was one of them), and 8 were accepted. But I put together my application very quickly (started 2:30am day of deadline, finished and submitted at 4:30am), so I didn’t expect to get in.</p>
<p>I do know a lot of people in my hall who got accepted, though, so I imagine it’s not incredibly difficult. I just kinda BS’ed my application, so I wasn’t surprised to find out that I didn’t get accepted.</p>
<p>Personasdelsol:</p>
<p>For me, I did FOCUS first semester, so I only took one course towards my major (Math 103), along with the required Writing 20 and my FOCUS courses. Because of this, I haven’t been exposed to a true double-major workload yet, so I can’t answer from personal experience.</p>
<p>Next semester, I’m taking Math 104, Math 135, and Econ 51, which are all going towards my majors. From what I’ve been told from upperclassmen in these majors, plus from dormmates in some of these courses, the workload shouldn’t be too bad. . . but we’ll see.</p>
<p>First thing you should know is that you can take up to 3 programs of study. The first will obviously be your major. The second can be either a major, minor, or certificate, and the third can be a minor or certificate.</p>
<p>Some programs of study require courses that overlap. For instance, Math 103 counts towards both my Econ and Stat majors. However, it is unlikely that you have much overlap in your intended programs of study, meaning that you will need to take more major/minor/cert courses throughout your four years.</p>
<p>If you’d like to take a look at specific programs of study, check the department’s website. Some programs have more specific course requirements, while others give students more freedom.</p>
<p>As for GenEd, there are 5 “Areas of Knowledge” and 6 “Modes of Inquiry”, which all must be fulfilled. These can be found online, here. ([Duke</a> University | Trinity College of Arts & Sciences : Academic requirements](<a href=“http://trinity.duke.edu/academic-requirements?c=curriculum]Duke”>http://trinity.duke.edu/academic-requirements?c=curriculum))</p>
<p>Some courses fulfill several of these requirements. Generally speaking, you should be able to fulfill most of these requirements simply by taking courses you are interested in. Keep in mind, however, that while you are planning your courseload, you should make sure to fulfill these reqs. Chem 83, which I’m taking next semester, plays that role in my Spring schedule.</p>
<p>Hope you took something from this post. . . I kinda just said a bunch of random stuff so feel free to ask follow up questions if you’d like!</p>
<p>~Jimmy</p>
<p>Hey, James,</p>
<p>I was wondering what it’s like to be an Asian blue devil. I’m a Korean American, and in my high school, it’s very cliquey based on race. All the Asians are kinda together in a set and it’s hard to get out. Is it like that at Duke? I mean, I don’t want to have to go out of my way to not befriend Asians, but I don’t want to be sucked into a giant group of Asian kids who separate themselves from the rest of the school. I guess what I’m asking is, if an Asian kid got into Duke, would he/she have to actually make an effort just to not be sucked into the asian group? Thanks</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Jimmy its extremely helpful! I just have a questions about FOCUS…well…what exactly is it? and do those courses count to Gen Ed or your programs of study?</p>
<p>-Personas</p>
<p>Hey Jimmy!
I was just accepted ED to Duke, and I’m really excited to go there! I just have a couple questions about dorms:
First of all, do freshman dorms have AC? If not, does it ever get unbearably hot in the dorms, and would you suggest bringing a window AC or a fan?
Also, would you say the dorms are bigger, smaller, or about the same as the average dorm room? Did you have any trouble adjusting to the size?
Thank you!</p>